The facility, which is allowed to continue to operate during the appeals process, was recently cited for nine more alleged violations, including a cook not following the correct order for washing, rinsing and sanitizing dishes and utensils. The cook reportedly was washing, then sanitizing, then rinsing the tableware.

Owner Angela Smith has not returned phone calls from The Star Press. In his appeal letter, her attorney noted that Wee Walkers was twice placed on probation for six months before the license was revoked.

"It is our hope that these issues can be quickly resolved so that Ms. Smith can continue operating her child care center," the attorney wrote.

Smith sent a letter to parents after the revocation that said: "I assure you that all prior citations have been corrected … The request to revoke my license was made off past inspections that have already been corrected."

The state disputed those remarks, saying all of the violations had not been corrected.

The violations that led to the revocation included staff-to-child ratios, or the number of children compared to the number of staff, one of the most important quality indicators.

"We know from experience that when tragic situations happen, it's because of a lack of supervision," Marni Lemons, spokesperson for the Family and Social Services Administration, told The Star Press in April. "Almost every situation I am aware of where a child has died or been seriously injured … has been a situation where the child was unsupervised, often due to too many children and not enough adults."

The most recent violations, based on an inspection on May 18, included the improper dish washing procedures along with infant/toddler files missing up-to-date immunizations; missing physicals and birth certificates; playground weeds and a playground entanglement hazard; lack of a chemical test kit for kitchen sanitizing tablets; non-working lighting above the dish-washing area; no posted menu in the kitchen; no explanation from a doctor for administering nasal drops or an inhaler or the duration; the feeding plan for a new infant lacked the scheduled hours that formula was to be offered; and no medical reason in a note from a doctor saying a child can sleep on her side.

Wee Walkers was licensed to care for up to 91 children, but it has become ineligible for federal child care development fund vouchers used by low-income families while the appeal is pending.

In the past two years, the state investigated five complaints against Wee Walkers: two alleged violations of child/staff ratios; lack of child safety restraints in a vehicle; the facility not being properly cleaned; and lack of liability insurance to cover passengers riding in the vehicle

The alleged violations leading to the revocation included failing to employ a qualified director; failure of the lead child caregiver to have at least a child development associate credential; child/staff ratios; lack of written applications for admissions of each child; lack of verification that staff is free of tuberculosis; lack of art equipment and materials; meals and snacks that did not meet dietary requirements; lack of maintenance; failure to firmly secure/clean all carpeting; toilet paper not within reach of children at toilets; failure to decorate a room at the children's eye level; failure to train staff in universal precautions; lack of a safely enclosed outdoor play area; placing awake children in cribs; lack of criminal history checks for staff; and failure to make an electrical outlet shockproof.